Every Story Needs a Hero

All movies are the same. Okay, fine, they’re not exactly the same, but their common structures make them quite predictable. Yet, we watch them with great anticipation. We meet the characters, we root for the hero, we seethe at the sight of the villain, we cringe as the plot rises and falls, and finally, we arrive at the resolution. We then applaud or critique it. Sometimes both. But we love our movies because human nature longs for a good hero.

Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer, Katniss Everdeen, Peter Parker, Wonder Woman. Each is the central figure, the major character. He or she drives the narrative to the end, which usually leads to victory, or sometimes even death.

Every story needs a hero–a defender and a protector.

There are 140 million orphans in the world and there are 400,000 children in foster care in the US, our own backyard. These kids’ stories need a hero…but we’re not it.

“If we’re not careful, our care of vulnerable kids and families can become shrouded in an evangelical hero complex that makes it more about us than it is about them. In the end, our good works can be promoted on the backs of the vulnerable to the detriment of making Jesus known as the true Hero in all of this.” (Jason Johnson Blog)

Jesus is the central figure, the major character. He drove the narrative to the very end, which led to both death and victory!

We, the Church, are not the hero of the story.
We simply play a role in introducing God as the hero of theirs.

Our English word hero comes from the Greek meaning “demi-god.” This translates “partially god, in an inferior degree.” We can make ourselves the hero all day long, but our kids don’t need partial and inferior manmade gods. They need the Hero. They need Jesus Christ.

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